[JohnVDo]

I have been using a Grado 125 plugged in to the headphone out on my Linn Majik integrated amp and have always enjoyed this combo. I needed a another headphone so that my wife and I can watch movies at night and so I bought a Sennheiser HD600 and the Gilmore V2 amp. The Gilmore is still on order and so I have been using the Linn Majik to drive the 600. What I have noticed is that I have to turn the volume much higher with the Sennheiser than the Grado. The other thing I noticed is the bass is so much better on the Grado than the 600. Bass sounds thin and anemic with the 600. From what read on this forum, the Sennheiser 600 is supposed to have great bass. Is it because of my Linn headphone out is not a good match for the Sennheiser and that I should wait for my Gilmore? When headphone goes bad, is it very noticeable? I bought this from ebay and wondered if I had bought a defective HP. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[usc goose]

welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet. (standard greeting of the ancient ones here)

they've debated this once or twice before in here i think if you want to use a search. i've never heard the amps you have but i i get pretty decent bass out of my hd600 with my 24v meta42 (2x843 opamps). then again my grado rs-1s do have even better and tighter bass (never heard the 125).

whenever this question comes up it seems that the best way to exploit the hd600s is with one of the higher end headroom amps. i've never heard any of them but that's the word on the street.

personally i don't think you have a defective set, you just might be more of a fan of the grado sound.

anyone else have an idea?

 

[Howie]

The HD600 isn't a bass heavy headphone. It's like bass coming from electrostatics or 2 way speakers that have superb bass extension vs bass coming from a big 3way or big speaker with a woofer that goes just as low. I have a pair of Sony V6 and it's bass output is strong. You really feel the bass coming out (as if I'm aware of the woofer moving much like I would on a big speaker that isn't that well integrated.

The HD600 is a well integrated headphone. The bass is there and quite satisfying but you won't as easily "feel" the bass. Perhaps that's why it's not considered a "rock" headphone. I drive the 600s with a Corda HA2. I find that powercord especially made the biggest difference to the bass. When I was using a VD Nites powercord and even their Reference powercord, one thing I really noticed was the was much stronger than when I used the PS Audio Prelude powercord. I didn't like everything that the VDs did in my setup but bass was definitely something that impressed me.

With that said I think it's fair to say that the HD600 produces bass when the material demands it and it's absent when it should be absent perhaps in general leaning towards too little rather than too much bass.

 

[Jacobh]

I have the 580s and the bass isn't thin or anemic. Either your pair is messed up or your receiver isn't powering it well. The bass doesn't have as much kick as grados, but in many ways it has a stronger overall presence.

 

[JaZZ]

Break in helps a lot to increase the bass and its extension. Feed it with some loud and deep bass signals during several hours! It's not the same bass (less impact, but better integration) as with the Grado though, but I like it even better. By all means it's very prominent, definitely not thin.

 

[KShaft]

get a cardas cable and a decent amp and the senns will have great bass.

To be honest it took a cary 300 sei before I enjoyed the bass on senns. I think in that department, ss is better(at cheaper price points I mean). Now mids from many tube amps make the senn really sound beautiful; but as I said, it took a cary for me to have the best of both worlds.

k.s.

 

[tom hankins]

The Bass on the HD600's went lower than the bass on the MS2's I had. It didn't have the mid-bass punch the grados had but they weren't lacking in any way, and did go deeper than the grados. The reason you have to turn them up louder is because they are 300ohm load compared to a 32 ohm load.

 

[psyco1]

Wait until the Gilmore gets there first, then since you bought it from ebay, you don't know how much it has been played. So burn it in for a couple of days.

Then put on something that goes deep and listen.

 

[Hajime]

I don't have the sr125's but I have the sr60's, sr325's and HD600's. When I compare the sr325 and HD600 the sr325 has more of a boosted bass. The HD600's bass is more even, but still very strong. I second psycho1's suggestion.

 

[LarryS]

Have you given your HD-600's time to break in? For me, there was a big difference in the sound after 50 hours of break-in.

The bass of the HD-600's is there for me, without a doubt. I once had the volume up a tad too much

on a bass heavy piece and I can honestly say it felt as if the headphones were shuddering. The HD-600 bass is not boomy bass, it is well defined, and quite, quite present.

 

[gerG]

To my ears the HD600s have anemic bass. It is very tight and controlled bass, as far as it goes, but it does not reach to the first octave.

They also have an attenuated hf response above 5 khz. I would have unloaded mine long ago, but I found that they respond extremely well to equalization. With the eq in the circuit they are my favorite headphones.

I can't comment on the Grados. I have listened to many of them, and they just don't work for me.


gerG

 

[dd3mon]

I think the Equinox cable went a long way to improve the 600's weaknesses (fill in bass and fill out midrange, as well as eliminating the slightly fatiguing highs the stock cable presented).

-dd3mon

 

[Sovkiller]

I don't know about Gradoes, I have never tried any, but IMO the bass extension on the HD600 needs a lot more, to reach a satisfactory level for my taste, I enjoy a lot more the CD3000 in this dept.....and some others I have tried....so you are not alone on that.

 

[usc goose]

oh yeah, i totally forgot about aftermarket cables. (i'm running clou reds myself, opens up the sound but adds slight treble splash (if that's a word))

 

[mkmelt]

My experience with my HD-600s is that they do indeed have great bass, when it is present in the music, and the amplifier is able to deliver.

By more bass, I mean that the HD-600 extend deeper into the lowest octave (below 50 Hz). There is not much musical information down there if you listen to pop, rock, etc. The bass notes that pass for bass on dance music are higher, in the range of 70-80 Hz.

But if you listen to classical music, or acoustic jazz, then you may be familiar with the sounds that sometimes extend a full octave below that and sometimes more. Below 50Hz, with right amp, the HD-600s leave most other headphones in the dust.

At one time subwoofers were, as the name implies, for sub-sonic frequencies. (Think 9 Hz up to around 20 Hz) Even less music is going on down there unless you are talking about large pipe organs. Also, special effects for movies (Earthquake for example), where some theaters installed special audio systems with subwoofers to recreate the rumble of the quake.

Gradually, full range speakers became less full range, and subwoofers started to cover more of the lower frequencies until they now extend up to and beyond 100 Hz or 150 Hz.

Manufacturers, including headphone manufacturers, know that most people don't have a clue about what the bottom two octaves really sound like, as their favorite music does not extend that low. So they design speakers and headphones to play down to perhaps 70Hz, and don't try for the lowest bass.

Even the original Klipsch Heresy loudspeaker, the smallest of the original Klipsch series and a very good speaker with devoted following has severe rolloff of its bass response below 75Hz. The roll off in this case is so steep that much below that and certainly by 50Hz the bass response is essentially zip, nil, nada. That does not make them any less a great loudspeaker for some types of music, but not the thing for classical music or acoustic jazz bass, or a pipe organ concert.